Hey guys, my apologies to those of you getting sick of critiquing people, :laugh2: I just joined a masters team this week and I've gotten some really good instruction on the *** stroke and free, but have a couple questions and a video on which i'm hoping to get some feedback. On the free, the coach is advocating pressing down with the whole arm and then pulling the water underneath me with the forearm just about parallel to the pool floor. He even said to almost touch my opposite hip with my hand (I understood that as crossing the midline on the pull). Is this kind of old school or is there something I might be misunderstanding? It felt very weird trying that, very different from what I had been (unsuccessfully) striving for before. I'm kind of trying to combine elements of what he is saying with what I have read and watched in videos. He was very helpful in getting me aware of my balance and body position. On the *** stroke he was very helpful as well with the arm pull, I did much better after his instruction. One interesting thing he advocated was bringing the legs up during the pull and kicking while arm shooting, so my feet should be back together once my arms were in streamline. What I have seen in videos of olympians shows a kick that is a little more delayed; the legs come up to the butt during the shoot, then the arms are in streamline before the actual squeezing of the legs/feet. Can someone comment on this?
I think I may have screwed myself by doing so much reading and watching videos for 3 years before getting a coach. I would have been less confused during practice. That said, the net effect has been positive.
Here is a freestyle video from today. I definitely see flaws; left arm is weird, probably too high, so I have trouble catching. I look uncomfortable and twisted when left side is down. I'm still not getting the forearms very vertical, right arm in particular probably pulls too low. I wonder if I need more shoulder strength and/or more internal rotation of the shoulder. I've been working really hard on narrowing my kick amplitude, but some strokes forget. I also have problems with the kick rhythm. Please critique and offer me drills you would do when I do practice on my own (have Masters just 3 days a week). Thanks a bunch.
YouTube - Swim Dec 9
I think the second video is alot better than the first (Dec 9).
Some people have a natural position that allows a good streamline. But if your like me you sink real fast so your bum is too low and you have alot of drag. What helped me significantly was the kick. Even if your shoulder driven, if you can kick real fast with a good portion of your workout consisting of focusing on it then the rest of it wont matter and will fall in to place. Do alot of kick sets:)
Yeah I'm a sinker. If I try to counter that by lowering my head, my head is completely under water. I try tilting my pelvis back, but as I mentioned before I end up just arching. George made a good point in that there are elements of my catch and pull through that sink me, especially left side down. I can't quite figure out why, maybe my left arm goes too high? My kick timing is not great and I tend to pause it on that side, that might also explain a lot. My body line is also broken on the left, and when I do side kicking drills I have a hard time going straight on that side. I may be one of those people that really needs someone to come into the water with me and physically put me into the right positions so I can eventually imprint them into muscle memory.
I think the second video is alot better than the first (Dec 9).
Some people have a natural position that allows a good streamline. But if your like me you sink real fast so your bum is too low and you have alot of drag. What helped me significantly was the kick. Even if your shoulder driven, if you can kick real fast with a good portion of your workout consisting of focusing on it then the rest of it wont matter and will fall in to place. Do alot of kick sets:)
Yeah I'm a sinker. If I try to counter that by lowering my head, my head is completely under water. I try tilting my pelvis back, but as I mentioned before I end up just arching. George made a good point in that there are elements of my catch and pull through that sink me, especially left side down. I can't quite figure out why, maybe my left arm goes too high? My kick timing is not great and I tend to pause it on that side, that might also explain a lot. My body line is also broken on the left, and when I do side kicking drills I have a hard time going straight on that side. I may be one of those people that really needs someone to come into the water with me and physically put me into the right positions so I can eventually imprint them into muscle memory.
